Toy



Nov. 15, 1932. R. G. SMITH 1,887,823

Tof

Filed Deo. 24. 195o Patented Nov. l5, 1932 PATENT OFFICE RONALD G. SMITH, 0F FAIRFIELD, CONNECTICUT TOY Application filed December 24, 1930. Serial No. 504,518.

This invention relates to toys, and more particularly, to locomotives or engines for toy railway sets. In they latter, especially when electrically operated, it is desired to control the direction of travel of the train from a remote point. That is to say, more amusement is had when it is possible for a child to stop, start, and reverse the direction of travel from a central control station rather than to reach over to the engine or locomotive for the purpose.

This has been accomplished heretofore by providing magnets or solenoids on the engine which were responsive to interruptions of the current in the track'circ-uit so that by making and breaking the track circuit momentarily, the engine could be stopped, reversed, stopped, again reversed and stopped, etc., by successive interruptions of the current supplying track circuit. In these proposals, the cost of the solenoids and mechanism actuated thcrcby'added considerably to the cost of the toy so that a high price is demanded for enl gines and locomotives so equipped.

An object of this invention is to provide a toy locomotive or engine which avoids the need of complicated or expensive mechanism and yet which may be stopped and reversed, stopped and reversed again, at will.

This is accomplished in the preferred form of this invention herein illustrated by providing means operated incidental to rapid deceleration of the locomotive for causing the locomotive to travel in the opposite direction when nextstarted. Referring to the speciiic form of mechanism herein illustrated for the purpose, the reversing of the locomotive is accomplished by a fly Wheel in which kinetic energy is stored during the travel ofthe locomotive as it causes bodily movement of the fly wheel upon cessation or deceleration of the movement of the part driving it.

The actual reversing of the direction of drive may, according to the present invention, be accomplished in different Ways and it may be either electrical or mechanical. In the preierred form of the invention, however, that shown herein, this is accomplished electrically by reversing the connection between the field and armature of the driving motor and for this purpose a simple and inexpensive reversing switch is provided.

While the structure of the present invention is herein illustrated in connection with a toy locomotive where it serves a special y function and obtains extremely advantageous results in the toy railway art, the present invention also embraces the mechanical movement, by means of which the results are obtained, in its broadest aspects.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawing, which shows, as exemplary thereof, one of the emhodiments of this invention- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a toy locomotive to which the present invention is applied.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the truck or pro- 70 pelling unit of the locomotive with portions of the parts broken away to more adequately show the mechanism' employed according to the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the reversing switch 75 with the means for actuating the same.

Fig. 4 is a side view on an enlarged scale ot the means in which the kinetic energy is store-l during the travel of the locomotive, the parts being shown in the positions they assume during the operation of the reversing switch and immediately following the stopping or the rapid deceleration of the driving wheels of the locomotive.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the parts of the 85 invention shown in Fig. 4.

The locomotive shown in Fig. l is of the conventional type and has a Cover or sheath 10 of proper configuration to simulate a 90 steam locomotive. Of course, the exact form of the body or sheath 10 is immaterial so far as the present invention is concerned. The sheath is carried on a truck 11 having driving wheels 12. The pilot wheels 13 may, 95 of course, be mounted on either the truck 11 or the body 10 as desired. The wheels 10 ride on rails 14 which are connected to a suitable source of current 15 in circuit with a control switch 16 and a third rail 17, usually 100 be provided with a gear 24 and may be coupled by another gear 25 for simultaneous rotation.

One side of the motor circuit is grounded on the truck 11 and includes ythe driving wheels l2 which are in mechanical and electrical engagement with the tracks 14. he

26 other side of the circuit is constituted by a shoe or roller 26 engaging the third rail 17. In the ordinary toy locomotive, the motor circuit contains a manually operable switch for opening it and for reversing the direction of current through the armature. In pre-V vious proposals for the automatic control of the locomotive from a remote point, the motor circuit was provided with a switch having a neutral or dead position, another position for causing the locomotive to travel forwardly, and still another position for causing it to travel backwardly, and in addition a solenoid connected by a pawl and ratchet mechanism or the like to this switch and adapted to operate it each time the solenoid was deenergized, that is to say, each time that the motor circuit was interrupted. Hence, assuming that the engine was traveling forwardly, the openings of the switch, such as 40' the switch 16 herein,- would cause the locomotive to stop. To start the locomotive, the circuit was closed and then opened each time the locomotive would travel in the reverse directionand so on step bystep the switch would be moved from neutral or stopping position to either forward or reversed positions.

The provisions of the solenoid for this purpose and the provision of a neutral position on the switch are avoided by the present invention by the provision of means whereby the reversing switch is automatically operated to shift it from one position to an- I other upon cessation of travel of the locomotive.

.Accordingly, the present invention pro-y vides a switch 27 having two sets of cont-acts 28 which arel adapted to be engaged by four brushes 29 leading to the field 19 and armature 2() of the motor. These contacts 28 and brushes 29 are arranged in pairs so that when the switch is in one position, for-instance the position shown in Fig. 2, current will flow through the armature. in one direction causing the locomotive to travel forwardly,

When, however, the switch 27 is shifted to its other position, the direction of current through the armature is reversed and the motor is caused to travel in the opposite direction. The switch 27, it will be noted from an inspection of Fig. 3, comprises a drum 30 of insulating material on. which the contacts 2S are mounted, and these are so 'placed as at all times to engage one or the other of the contacts 29. Y

Instead of operating the switch by a solenoid, or other comparatively expensive eleotrical device, the switch 27 of the present invention is operated by lrinetic energy stored during the travel of the locomotive in one direction and which is spentupon stopping or rapid deceleration of the locomotive and as an incident operates the switch.

In the'form of this invention at present preferred, this is accomplished through the medium of a relatively heavy `wneel 31 which, for identification, may be termed a fly' wheel. This wheel is mounted on an axle 32 having a pinion 33 meshing with a gear 24 which is secured to one of the driving wheels 12 and the pinion 33 is relatively small so that during the traveling movement of the locomotive the ily wheel 31 will have sub stantially high cngular speed. So longas the driving gear 24 is transmitting power to the fly wheel 31 through the pinion 33, the axle of the fly wheel will be urged in the direction of rotation of the driving wheel 24. Vhen, however, the drivin gwheel 24 is suddenly stopped or has its motion rapidly 4decelerated, the momentum or kinetic energy stored inthe fly wheel 31 will he transmitted to the pinion 33 and this will tend to urge the axle 32 in the direction opposite to that in which it was urged while power' was being applied to it by the driving gear 24. rl`his urging of the Vaxle of the fly wheel in one direction during the travel of the locomotive and in the opposite direction upon cessation of rapid deceleration ofr the locomotive is employed by the present invention for operating the switch 27.

Accordingly', the axle 32 for the fly wheel is mounted for bodily oscillatory movement about the axis of the driving gear 24 and has a mechanical connection to the switch. For this purpose, any suitable forni of mounting for the axle 32 may he used but as shown it is mounted in the frame 34 comprising side plates 35 and transverse bars 36 (see Figs. 4

and 5), and having bearings 37 on the axle or shaft 38 of the driving wheel 12 and its gear 24 so that the axle may oscillate between limits of movements. These limits of movement are controlled by cross bars 89 carried by the frame worlr of the truck 11 and adapted to be engaged by the edges of the side plates 35 of the frame, carrying the ily wheel 31, as shown in Fig. 2.

r1`he mechanical connection between ythe fly left,

wheel aXle 32 andthe switch 27 is constituted, in the form of the invention herein shown, by alink connected at one end to an varm 41 secured to the drum' 300i theswitch and at the other end it is connected to the frame 34 by a pin l2 located yin the slot 43 in the link, the pin and slot connection being provided Yso that the switch is actuated suddenly as the rame34 reaches the limits of its oscill-atory movement instead of gradually during thepassage of the frame'from one position of rest to another.

Assuming the parts in thc positions shown in Fig. 2, with the locomotive travelingforwardly, the clockwise rotation of the gear 24 tends to move the axle 32 ofthe fly wheel 31 to the right about the axis ofthegear 24 and this holds the frame 34 against the righthand stop bar 39. Howevenupon cessation of movement of the gear 24 or the rapid deceleration thereof, the momentumof the ily wheel which it'will be remembered was being driven clockwise, causes the pinion 33 to roll on the gear '24, thereby carrying the frame 34 away'fromthe stop 39 and tothe left as indicated bythe arrows in Fig. A, until the opposite edge ofthe frame 34 strikes the left-hand stop rod 39 on the frame work.

In so doing, the pin 42moves idly through the slot 43 until the frame 34 has moved substantially, but as the latter approaches its left-handlimit of movement the pin hits the end otthe slot 43 and moves the link tothe thereby rocking the switch Q7.

Upon the neXt closing movementioi the switch 16, the locomotive will goin the reverse direction because the direction ot current through the motor has been reversed. Then, when the circuit 16 is again opened and the movement oithe locomotive stopped or rapidly decelerated, the frame-swings from its left-hand'position as shown to theri'ghthand'position and again operates the switch to reverse the direction of drive of the locomotive.

From the above, it will benoted that in its broader aspects, the structurel of the present invention is applicablenot only to locomo tives where it has'special'fuse and obtains particularly advantageous result, but also it maybe employed in other connections where some operation is desiredto be performed after'stopping or rapid deceleration oi the driving member.

'Variations and modiiicationsfmay'bc made within the scope of this invention and portions o'i the improvements` may be used without others.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and for which it is desired to obtain Letters Patent, is

1. A toy locomotive having driving wheels; a driving couple to thedriving'wheels including a motor and meansfor'reversing the direction ot' drive; an oscillating arm-normally biased into either of two positions of rest; and a fly wheel on said oscillating arm in which energy is stored during travel of the locomotive for moving said oscillating arm from one to the other of its normally biased positions and for operating said drive reversing means.

2. A toy locomotive having driving wheels; a driving couple to the driving wheels includ ingl amotor and means for reversing the direction of drive; an oscillating arm; and a fly wheel on said oscillating arm, havingia driving connection with said motor, for storingenergy derived from the motor during operation thereof for oscillating said arm and for operating said drive reversing means.

3. A toy locomotive having driving wheels; a driving couple to the driving wheels inclucing a motor and means for reversing the direction of drive; an oscillating arm; and means on said arm in which energy is stored during travel of the locomotive for operate ing said drive reversing means upon cessation of traveling movement of the locomotive.

4. A toy locomotive having driving wheels; a driving couple to the driving wheels including a motor and means for reversing the direction of drive; an oscillating arm movable into two positions of rest, and hava connection with said reversing means; and means on said arm and connected to said motor for storing energy derived from the motor during operationthereof for'moving said arm from one to the other of its positions of rest and operating said drive reversing means upon cessation of the .application of power by the motor to the driving wheels oi the locomotive.

5. A toy locomotive having driving wheels; a driving couple to the-driving wheels including a motor; an arm mounted for oscillatory movement into two positions of rest; and means on said arm operated by momentum upon interruption oi' the power applied to the driving wheels by the motor for oscillating the arm from one to the other of its positions of rest.

6. A toy locomotive having an electric motor; a reversing switch in circuit with the motor and carried by the locomotive; an

oscillating arm connected-to said reversing switch and means on said oscillating arm responsive to cessation ot traveling movement of the locomotive for oscillating said arm and operating the reversing switch.

7. A toy locomotive having an electric motor; a reversing switch in circuit with the motor and carried by the locomotive; and mechanical means oscillatable between limits of movement responsivey to rapid deceleration of the locomotive for operating said reversing switch and normally biased to remain in position in either limit of movement.

8. ln a toy locomotive having a frame; vdriving wheels thereon; a. gear connected to the driving wheels; an arm mounted for oscillatory movement on an axis coincident with the axis of the said gear; a fly-wheel rotatably mounted on the arm; a gear secured to the fly-wheel and meshing with the gear connected to the driving wheel; stops for limiting the oscillatory movement of said arm and against one or the other of which the arm is located duringtravel o'i' the loco-V motive; and means connected to the arm and operated thereby when the arm is rocked from one position of rest to another due to the continued rotation of the fly-wheel when the rotation of the driving wheel is deceleratedf 9. In a toy locomotive having a frame; driving wheels thereon; a gear connected to the driving wheel; a fly-wheel having an axle mounted for bodily oscillatory movement about an axis coincident with the axis of said gear; a gear secured to the fly-wheel axle and meshing with the gear connected to the driving wheel; stops for limiting the oscillatory movement of the said ily-wheel axle and determining its positions of rest in each direction; and means connected to the flywheel axle operated thereby when the flywheel axle is rocked from one position of rest to another due to the continued rotation of the fly-wheel when the rotation of the driving wheel is decelerated.

10. In a'toy locomotive having a frame; driving wheels thereon; a gear mounted to the driving wheels; a fly-wheel having an axle mounted for bodily oscillatory movement about an axis coincident with the axis of said gear; a gear secured to the fly-wheel axle and meshing with the gear connected to 'the criving wheel; stops for limiting the oscillatory movement of the said fly-wheel axle and determining its positions of rest in each direction; and a reversing switch in circuit with the motor and operated by the ily-wheel axle when the latter is rocked from one position of rest to another.

11. In combination, a rotatable member; a gear secured to the rotatable member; a pinion meshing with said gear; an axle for the pinion mounted for bodily oscillatory movement about the axis of said gear between limits of movements; a weight carried by said axle and rotated with said rotatable member but in the opposite direction; and control means connected to the axle for the pinion and weight and adapted to be operated by the bodily movement of the axle incident to the continued rotation of the weight upon rapid deceleration of the rotatable member.

12. In combination with organized moving parts including a rotatable member; means movable within limits and driven by said rotatable member in a direction counter thereto; and operation controlling means connected to the last-named means and actuated by the latters continued movement to the opposite limit upon deceleration of the rotatable member.

13. In a toy locomotive having a frame; a driving wheel thereon; a gear connected to the driving wheel; an arm mounted for oscillatory movement into two positions of rest; a. fly wheelrotatably mounted on the arm; a gear secured to the fly wheel, connected to the driving wheel gear; a reversible driving mechanism connected to said driving wheel; reversing means for said driving mechanism having a controlling lever; and a link between said oscillating arm and said controlling lever adapted to shift the latter as said arm is movedffrom one to the other of its positions of rest.

14. In a toy locomotivek having a frame; a driving wheel thereon; a gear connected to the driving wheel; an arm mounted for oscillatory movement into two positions of rest; a fly wheel rotatably mounted on the arm; a gear secured to the fly wheel, connected to the driving wheel gear; a reversible driving mechanism connected to said driving wheel; reversing means for said driving mechanism having a controlling lever; a link between saidoscillating arm and said controlling lever adapted to shift the latteras said arm is moved from one to the other of its positions of rest; and a pin and slot connection in said link connecting means adapted to permit a limited range of free oscillating movement of the arm as it moves from one position of rest toward the other prior to its working to operate the reversing mechanism controlling lever.

15. In a toy locomotive having a frame; a driving wheel thereon; a gear connected to the driving wheel; an arm mountedffor oscillatory movement into two positions of rest a fly wheel rotatably mounted on the arm; a gear secured to the fly wheel, meshing with the gear connected to the driving wheel; a reversible type electric motor, including a motor circuit having a driving connection with said driving wheels and connected to source of current; a reversing switch in said electric motor circuit; and a link connection between said oscillating arm and said reversible switch adapted to reverse the switch as said varm is moved from one to the other of its positions of rest.

16. In a toy locomotive having a frame; a driving wheel thereon; a gear connected to the driving wl1eel;anarm mounted for oscillatory movement into two positions of rest; a fly wheel rotatably mounted on the arm; a gear secured to the fly wheel, meshing with the gear connected to the driving wheel; a reversible type electric motor having a driving connection with said driving wheels and connected to a source of current; a reversing switch in said electric motor circuit; a link connection between said oscillatable arm and said reversing switch adapted to reverse the switch as said arm is moved from one to the other of its positions of rest; and a pin and slot connection in said link connecting means adapted to permit a limited range of free oscillating movement of the arm as it moves from one position of rest toward the other prior to its Working to operate the reversing switch.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairiield, and State of Connecticut, this 22nd day of December, 1930.

RONALD G. SMITH. 

